Black Market Field Hockey Stick Trade This was bound to happen, especially with the worldwide economic downturn. We have all heard of luxury brand-name watches and ladies' handbags offered at huge discounts by street vendors. Naturally, these status goods are fakes, not defective or overstock items sold by the factory. They are unauthorized, black market frauds and we see them all over. In some cases only an expert eye can see that they are imitations. The watches keep time and the bags hold what you put into them, so even if the person using the fake is not trying to fool other people into believing they have a real expensive status symbol, the object performs its basic function. There is also money to be made by people who can trick you into believing they can get you a deal on a field hockey stick directly from the manufacturer. An expensive field hockey stick can be a status symbol, but it is also a performance enhancer. It is a proper tool with which one competes, not a fashion accessory. Top end sticks are designed to perform in significantly advanced ways. Bends, head shapes, tapering, balance points, composition of materials, and construction methods are more important than the graphics. One can replicate the graphics and apply them to a standard stick. This is becoming too common. Fake sticks have been around for a few years. In photographs they look like the real thing. I believe that Grays was the first brand to be attacked by imitators. Not long ago the first black market "Dita" sticks started showing up. Now virtually all major brands have their own knock-offs. The fakes look as good to the untrained eye as the pretend Prada handbag looks. Price-wise, these fakes look like bargains. Just don’t expect them to perform like the real thing in a game. The warning is simple: BUYER BEWARE. If you think you are getting a bargain, you probably are being caught in a trap. Fake field hockey sticks are showing up all over the internet. They are even guaranteed to be authentic, or your money will be refunded. That should put you at ease, shouldn’t it? Of course the stick is directly from the manufacturer, they are just cutting out the “middleman”. That should put you at ease, too. When the seller says he gets the brand name stick directly from the manufacturer, he implies the authentic source, not the counterfeiter who actually supplies him. You will find these phoney TK, Princess, Malik, Gryphon, Dita, and Grays abound on Ebay, Craigslist, and even Amazon. Those websites try to avoid illegal trade as best they can, but do not have the resources to keep out all fakes. There are plenty of other websites offering questionable products, especially the aptly named Alibaba; remember Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves? Those thieves now run their own black market website! The most recent scam I encountered works like this: a credible-looking item is offered on Ebay by a seller with an impeccable feedback record. Hey, that’s already put me at ease. The amount of feedback is not very substantial, not in the hundreds. The seller happens to often “have” several top-end models from different brands. In fact, the seller has images of sticks that he is fronting for someone else. The seller is holding no stick at all, but is selling on commission for the counterfeiter. The seller is a variation of the street-corner vendor who spreads his goods upon a sheet that can be gathered up and slung over his shoulder at the first sign of the authorities. The vendor does not know the name of the person he buys his fakes from. If you do catch the vendor, he will return to the street with a new gmail address, abandoning the previous free address. Is it any wonder that he offers to refund your money if you find the item is a fake? Try emailing him. See if he answers your message. This seller has made his sale and moved on. Repeat customers are not part of his business plan. Moving up a notch we find those who sell unauthorized goods, in quantity to retailers who do or should know better than to get involved in a scam. Yes, there are some retailers who unwittingly fall for fake goods and others who are as unscrupulous as the black marketeers. Naturally, these retailers claim to be authorized to sell the brand names, but a simple check of the brand name company’s website will state who is an authorized retailer. How can a player confidently find an authentic top end, brand name, field hockey stick? Buy from an authorized source. "Your conscience may be another casualty. "Counterfeiters in general are tied to organized crime and illegal activity," says Randazzo. "There's more money to be made in counterfeits than in drugs — and less exposure," adds investigator Kris Buckner, founder of Investigative Consultants, a Los Angeles-based company that helps track down counterfeiters. "The consumer has to get the bigger picture that buying counterfeits supports gangs, drug dealing, guns, murders, extortion, and terrorism." according to Maria Ricapito, writing for BAZAAR. |